Steve Jobs. Vegan? Early death from pancreatic cancer?

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What's going on here? A look at the possible cause of pancreatic cancer and a plan for sharing that information with the entire world

I heard long ago that Steve Jobs was a vegan, which means eating no foods of animal origin. But I have not promoted that information in my blogs because I also knew that he had pancreatic cancer. I feared that some people would simply assume that the plant-based diet-style couldn't be that great if a well-known vegan like Steve Jobs could die of cancer at just 56 years of age. Now that he has passed away, I felt that it was time to address the topic more directly.

First of all, while I have heard and read that Steve Jobs had been eating vegan for a long time, there are a few key things about his background that I do not know:

I do not know if his version of vegan was a truly health-promoting version. As I stated in our book, one could eat nothing but potato chips and Diet Coke and call himself a vegan.

I do not know exactly when he began his vegan lifestyle and for what reasons. In my case, I didn't adopt my current near-optimal 4-Leaf diet-style until I was 58 years old. And we all know that it can take decades for cancer to spread enough to be even be detectable.

And, finally, I do not know if he strayed from his vegan lifestyle very often since the time that he began it. But I did notice in Thursday's New York Times article (see link below), that he liked sushi, but I don't know how much he ate it or how often or whether or not it included fish.

Dr. Michael Greger

Eating sushi? So maybe he was not a vegan after all. Regarding the consumption of fish sushi (loaded with animal fat and protein), I call your attention to the following video by Dr. Michael Greger that was featured in one of my blogs last week. In the video, he cites a huge NIH AARP study (500,000 people) that tightly associates the consumption of all fat AND protein of animal origin with pancreatic cancer. On the other hand, plant-based fat had no association. Take three minutes and watch the video; it might help explain why Steve is no longer with us. Click here to continue reading, watch the video and see comments by Dr. T. Colin Campbell...

I love vegan sushi especially the crunchy kind. I often find that it tastes fresher than fish sushi. I cannot stand the fake crab stuff that's in some sushi and you must be very careful that you go to a respectable place where their using sushi-grade tuna and have good sanitization practices which can be found on their health rating which must be posted at the front of their facility in plain view of customers. It is so unfortunate to lose such a wonderful and inspirational man.

I know a number of people who live in my area, who passed away within the past few months (most recent was last week) of Pancreatic cancer. I also know that they all lived careless lifestyles. By this I mean, poor diets, overweight, heavy smokers and/or alcoholics. For those who are vegan and pass away from Pancreatic or other cancers, who knows. We are designed to die. As vegans I believe our goal is twofold. To save animals (approx. 100 a year for being vegan) and to die with dignity. As an ex-nurse, I can assure every meat eater, drug addict and smoker, that most times, dying from poor lifestyle afflicted diseases, is not death with dignity but long term suffering accompanied by strokes, countless useless drugs and much pain. We are all going to die, and being vegan isn't denying death, it's celebrating the life of those with no voices.